Juve, Pogba and the recovery plan in 5 stages

“I miss it top much!”, i.e. “missing too much”. Paul Pogba writes it on his Instagram profile under a photo that shows him at Continassa in training last summer. The reference is to that ball at his feet, his first love which for too long has returned to being just an object of desire due to the long period of inactivity. Between the end of the adventure at Manchester United and the false start at Juve, the French midfielder hasn’t been a protagonist on the pitch for 246 days. An eternity for those who have spent an entire life inside a soccer field, a long break that was only interrupted by brief spells of illusion that brought disappointment back to the stars at the immediate red light.

INJURY

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Pogba has chosen to return to Turin to try to be one of the strongest midfielders in the world again, but the enthusiasm of the first few days was knocked down by the injury which stopped him immediately in the summer tour. He did his best to complicate things: Juve’s medical staff had actually directed him to immediate surgery, but he preferred to have other consultations and finally opted for conservative therapy that would have brought him back on the pitch in less than a month and a half; at that point, not only did the lateral meniscus tear not resolve itself, but the clinical picture became so complicated that he had to undergo the operation immediately and give up the world championship in Qatar.

IN THE VIEWFINDER

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Allegri had to do without the player for the entire first part of the season, now he doesn’t want any illusions: this is why he has called for calm in the last few days, without making any predictions. In reality, the Frenchman has returned to racing and will take the first tests to gradually return to the group immediately after Christmas. It will in fact be the first of the five stages which – in the common idea of ​​the player and the staff – should give him back the central role of leader on the pitch in Juve’s seasonal debut in the Europa League, on February 16 against Nantes. However, prudence and a lot of patience will be needed along the way, since the times to move on to the next stage will depend on the reactions of the knee.

DEBUT

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If the first scheduled stage is successful, Pogba should return to training slowly with his teammates. Between the end of the year and the beginning of the new season, he should thus find the ball again and aim straight for the second stage: that is, the bench in the big match against Napoli. It would be a transitory stage, but significant for the mental aspect. At that point the player, returning to feel the closest field, would work with more enthusiasm to earn the first presence (of a few minutes) of his second adventure in black and white and therefore reach the third stage. At the moment it is difficult to hypothesize a match precisely, perhaps the most suitable moment could be the Coppa Italia match on January 19 with Monza.

OBJECTIVE RETURN

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With the fifth and final stage in the sights, i.e. playing the Europa League match against Nantes in mid-February at the top, the management of the fourth goal would be essential: i.e. increase playing time carefully and find the condition to sustain the pace and level of play high, without overdoing it to avoid empty passages. Pogba has an extreme desire to return to play and knows that this will be the most delicate phase of his recovery path. Meanwhile, in the next few days he will try to raise the pace of the race, hopefully he will be able to get that ball back between his feet. Which now he “misses too much”.